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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Nicholas Tsoulfanidis—ANS member since 1969
We welcome ANS members who have careered in the community to submit their own Nuclear Legacy stories, so that the personal history of nuclear power can be captured. For information on submitting your stories, contact nucnews@ans.org.
As an undergraduate I studied physics at the University of Athens. I entered the university in 1955 after successfully passing a national exam (came up fourth in a field of about 700 candidates). Upon graduation and finishing my mandatory two-year military service, the plan was to teach physics either in a public high school or as a tutor for a private for-profit institution, preparing high school students for the national exam.
Luciano Burgazzi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 156 | Number 2 | November 2006 | Pages 150-158
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT06-A3781
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The inclusion of passive safety-related systems within the advanced reactor design claims high system availability and reliability. A detailed system and safety analysis applying the failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) approach is required as a primary step for the development of a methodology aimed at the reliability assessment of passive systems. The present study concerns thermal-hydraulic passive systems that are designed for decay heat removal and rely on natural circulation that foresee a heat exchanger immersed in a cooling pool. The main purposes of the work are to identify important accident initiators, find out the possible consequences to the plant deriving from component malfunctions, individuate possible causes, identify mitigating features and systems, and classify accident initiators in initiating events of accident sequences. A qualitative overview of accident sequences could be derived from the FMEA tables looking at consequences' description and preventive and corrective actions. Failure probabilistic evaluations are included as well to point out the probabilities and frequencies to have the plant in fault and/or unavailability conditions during passive system operation, therefore ensuring a complete set of initiating events of reactor accident sequences. Finally, important feedback to the design activities will derive from the FMEA study performed for safety assessment purposes. An important lesson elicited from the analysis is that measures against common-cause failures can reduce significantly the probability of failure of the system.